Startalk
Startalk, stylized as Startalk: The Only Showbiz Authority and formerly Startalk TX is a saturdays entertainment news and talkshow in the Philippines. It premiered on October 7,1995-present and was the longest-running saturday entertainment news and talkshows in Philippine-television started airing on GMA Network airing every Saturday afternoons right-after the defunct noontime variety shows Eat Bulaga! and worldwide on GMA Pinoy TV and GMA Life TV. The show is the network's flagship national Showbiz-Oriented talkshow program, and simultaneously broadcast on radio through Super Radyo DZBB 594 and Barangay LS 97.1 in Mega Manila and several of its regional Super Radyo stations nationwide (Super Radyo 909 Palawan, Super Radyo 1323 Iloilo, Super Radyo 999 Cebu and Super Radyo 1125 Davao). History Startalk: Beginnings (1995-present) Startalk premiered on October 7, 1995-present and was first taped at the Fernandina Suites, on a late Saturday afternoons timeslots as GMA Network's answer to ABS-CBN's top-ratings Saturday showbiz talkshow Showbiz Sabado and serves as a companion show to another showbiz-oriented talk show Show & Tell. Its original hosts of the show were Boy Abunda and Paolo Bediones (who was also host of Show & Tell, together with Gretchen Barretto and Ai-Ai delas Alas), Kris Aquino Joey De Leon and Lolit Solis. Despite criticisms on its initial telecasts, "Startalk" continued its run by featuring entertainment stories and reports, for example, Gabby Concepcion and Jenny Syquia's separation, Mel Tiangco and Jay Sonza's sentiments against ABS-CBN and the Hilda Koronel Dr. Minguita Padilla feud, among others. One explosive story after another, Startalk finally earned its tagline "The Showbiz Authority" and in October 1996, Startalk won its first award in the 10th PMPC Star Awards for Television as Best Showbiz Oriented Talkshow. Triumvirate of The Only Showbiz Authority (1996-present) Startalk said goodbye to Aquino in 1996, after her contract with Viva Entertainment expired and the network dropped herself and transferred to rival network ABS-CBN and was given several shows, and so actress Dawn Zulueta came in to fill the vacant timeslot as host. During the show's second year, it slowly gained significant loyal following and considerable commercial load. Unfortunately, Dawn Zulueta didn't last long and so she left the show in 1997 for her upcoming marriage to Davao businessman Anton Lagdameo. With this, sexy star Rosanna Roces was named as the new host as the permanent replacement of Zulueta and immediately blended with Boy Abunda Paolo Bediones Joey De Leon and Lolit Solis. Although Boy Abunda and Joey De Leon became famous for his Mahiwagang Salamin (Magic Mirror) when he grills controversial showbiz figures in the show and Solis (also called Manay Lolit) for her never-ending greetings, Rosanna proved that she can be a crowd-drawer with her tactless remarks and flimsy gowns which became the most anticipated moments in the show, thus earning the ire of MTRCB. Aside from Rosanna (or Osang), "Startalk" also gave a big break to a trio of newcomers anonymously known as Steve, Fayatollah and Pepita The new loud segment hosts handled "Startalk"'s tabloid segment "T! The Tigbak Authority" where they criticize the senseless headlines printed on tabloid and the fashion statements of the movie/TV stars during awards night. Fayatollah later on became a regular fixture in other GMA shows while Pepita posed for FHM magazine last August 2003. Steve has become the regular voice-over of the show since his inclusion. From Saturdays Triumvirate (1998-present) On June 6, 1998-presnt the GMA Network management decided to move Startalk to an every Saturdays afternoons timeslot right-after the noontime variety shows Eat Bulaga! Saturday Editions The move was due to the reason that it never gained headway against its rival show Showbiz Sabado Plus With the change, the show unwittingly pioneered a "seamless" patch segment at the start of its show where the Master Rapper and TV host Francis Magalona would shout out from the top of his lungs and cry out: "Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao... SEAMLESS NA!". Always brimming with energy, Magalona was given the task of turning over for a smooth transition the concluding portion of Eat Bulaga! Saturday editions to Startalk. The Startalk hosts would pick it up from there and the mainstays of both shows exchange on-air banter for a couple of minutes, punctuated with a lot of friendly jeers, private jokes and ribbing. After Magalona died on March 6, 2009, the Eat Bulaga! and Startalk hosts continued with the seamless tradition until it was stopped in the later part of the year, switching weekdays timeslots between S-Files, another showbiz talkshow first hosted by Lyn Ching John Lapus Richard Gomez Joey Marquez and Paolo Bediones. The move favored Boy,Joey. Paolo, Lolit, Osang and the staff of "Startalk" (led by Floy Quintos) since they can dish out more exclusive showbiz news earlier in the weekend. The show's popularity rose to new heights as new portions such as Da Who and Startalk True Stories were introduced. Solis also earned a portion entitled Alok Bati (Offer a Greeting) suitable for her never-ending greetings. "Startalk" reigned in the Saturday afternoons ratings where drama shows from ABS-CBN used to dominate the timeslots On June 5, 1999, the show had to say goodbye to one of its pioneer hosts, Boy Abunda and Paolo Bediones right-after he got an offer from ABS-CBN to host the new Sunday talkshow The Buzz as the network's answer to S-Files after Showbiz Lingo ended on June 6, and was given several shows. Former Showbiz Lingo co-hosts Butch Francisco and Ricky Lo (who just came fresh from his migration to America) replaced by Boy Abunda in the show. Boy Abunda' and Paolo Bediones's farewell from "Startalk" left Lolit Solis an as the sole pioneer host from the show. The show's ratings slightly suffered after Boy Abunda and Paolo Bediones left the show. However, the quality of the show's entertainment news content and no-nonsense reporting became the main attraction among the viewers, regardless of the hosting changes. Butch Ricky Joey Lolit and Osang's new found chemistry was evident as the show was provided a fearless trio that can facilitate, comment and report the latest entertainment news when it happens, where it happens. The 2:30-5:00pm weekend timeslot was widely regarded as a "dead timeslot" primarily because no advertiser would place their spots where fewer people are watching television, but GMA Network brought life to it by airing showbiz talk shows starting in the late 1980s and 1990s with Startalk as the fourth showbiz talkshow to air on that Saturday timeslots starting in 1995-present preceded by "Movie Magazine" (hosted by then Showbiz Sabado & Showbiz Lingo host Cristy Fermin who would later host The Buzz and Showbiz Sabado Showbiz Sabado Plus), Channel S and ETChing Osang's Controversies (2002–2004) "Startalk" also pioneered the no-nonsense segment, "Walang Takot Sasabihin (WTS)", where the show speaks out its opinion about the week's biggest showbiz news. It usually starts by giving a blow-by-blow account on what really happened, and why did it happen. At the end of the segment, the show gives an unsolicited advise to the persons involved in the controversy and the show's final stand to it. Overall, the segment serves as a mouthpiece of the show to praise, crucify, criticize, and open the eyes of the Filipino public to awareness. Through the viewers, viewers have observed Osang as too frank with her comments and occasionally displays her lewd conduct in front of her guests. The MTRCB even issued a warning against Osang for wearing gowns that are too provocative, two of them when she hosted the 12th PMPC Star Awards for Television in 1998 where she just wore a body paint to cover one of her breasts, and one where she wore an all-black nun costume with a silver cross at the front, with a see through satin at the back, revealing her buttocks. A very emotional Osang and Joey De Leon later on appeared in the show a week after the awards night wearing a black T-shirt that printed "Down with Hypocrisy" as her response to MTRCB's warning. She stressed that MTRCB should not single her out and instead look after the slew of sex movies that came out in theatres almost weekly. Another controversy that put Osang in hot water was her statement regarding the stories surrounding the mysterious death of matinee idol Rico Yan in 2002. Yan died from acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis (or more popularly known in Filipino parlance as bangungot) but Osang claimed on the air that he died of drug overdose and that Rico's friend Dominic Ochoa is also into it as well. Osang's controversial statement drew irate reactions from Rico's legion of fans and threatened to boycott Startalk for as long as she is there. As a result, Osang was suspended for a month. The Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) was also one of the governing bodies that censured Osang in 2003, together with newscaster Mike Enriquez. It triggered GMA's withdrawal of its membership from the said group. In 2004, Osang had a widely publicized feud with close friend and dermatologist Dra. Vicki Belo. The said feud had something to do with Osang allegedly violating the contract she signed with Belo's company, Forever Flawless, where she was the main endorser. As a result, Osang was replaced by Lorna Tolentino and Katya Santos. Osang retaliated the move by not acknowledging Forever Flawless on-air (which she was supposed to do as part of the exchange deal) and instead started to acknowledge Dra. Belo's rivals in the dermatology industry, Drs. Manny and Pie Calayan. She also revealed on air that her liposuction sessions with Dra. Belo was not something she was really proud of and called Dra. Belo just a gym instructor. When Osang jointly celebrated her birthday with co-host and manager Lolit Solis during a special episode of "Startalk" during May, not too many people knew that it would be her last live appearance on the show. A week later after the joint birthday celebration, she was a no-show during "Startalk"'s regular live telecast and instead had a phone patch with co-hosts Butch Francisco and Joey De Leon (who was alone at the studio when the episode happened). During the on-air phone patch, she called Lolit various names and threatened to boycott the show as long as Lolit is there. It was reported that after the said phone interview, GMA management tried to pacify Osang and Lolit's feud by calling the two for a meeting. But the two warring hosts declined. The Startalk staff also reportedly sided with Lolit and threatened to leave the show if GMA decided to side with Osang. On June 5, 2004, Osang finally bade goodbye to Startalk by appearing on GMA's other talk show S-Files and declared that she was out of the show. After her farewell with GMA, Osang appeared at The Buzz (for which the hosts were the 2 original hosts of Startalk: Aquino & Abunda) where she revealed her issues with Vicky Belo and Lolit Solis. Despite the issues made by Osang, Startalk proved its consistent dominance in the Saturday afternoons timeslost sthereafter prompted rival network ABS-CBN to do away with producing weekly dramas in 1992-2013 and instead, put another showbiz talk show to compete with "Startalk". The show has survived competition from five Saturday showbiz talkshow that were produced by ABS-CBN from 1992-2013. These were Showbiz Sabado Showbiz Sabado Plus, EK Channel, ETK: Entertainment Konek, Entertainment Live and Showbiz Inside Report. First Decade of The Showbiz Authority (2004-2009) After Osang's farewell, GMA Network took in several celebrities to joined by Lolit Soils Joey De Leon and Butch Francisco on board. Grandslam actress Lorna Tolentino and Ricky Lo was later on taken in as guest co-host and went on to appear in the show as such for three months, until she was named as Osang's permanent replacement in the show which duplicated with Ricky Lo wherein it became his second home after he was suspended in Eat Bulaga! in 2004 and became its guest host in several occasions. His funny repartee with Lolit (who happened to be his classmate in elementary school) and his biting wit and sarcasm served as an attraction to the viewers. Even when he returned to "Eat Bulaga!" later on, Joey continued to appear on the show until he was named as the fourth co-host of the show. 2004 marked the 10th year of Startalk in the Philippine TV Industry, making it the longest running showbiz-oriented talk show on Philippine TV. It released a commemorative magazine, featuring The five hosted by Joey De Leon Lolit Solis Ricky Lo Butch Francisco and Lorina Tolentino and former hosts of the show (except for Rosanna Roces and Toni Gonzaga). In 2008, "Startalk" suffered a hosting crisis when one of its hosts, Lorna Tolentino took a leave from the show to take care of her ailing husband, action star Rudy Fernandez. The show had weekly updates on the actor's battle with periampullary cancer until his recent death last June 6, 2008. After Fernandez's burial, it was unclear whether Lorna will stay on as host of the show. More than a month after her husband Fernandez's death, Lorna appeared live for the last time on "Startalk" as a special guest. In her last guesting appearance, she told stories about her recent trip to Jerusalem which gave her time to heal emotional wounds brought about by Daboy's death. On September 19, 2008, she finally bade goodbye to GMA executives after she decided to accept ABS-CBN's offer which included movie appearances on Star Cinema, a recording deal with Star Records and a soap opera which will feature her alongside Gabby Concepcion. Entertainment columnist Pia Guanio of The Philippine Star was taken in to replace by her after She left S-Files and S-Files replacing by Lorina Tolentino The Startalk TX Era (2010–2013) A new and improved Startalk was introduced on April 2010 with a new set and reformat as part of the combined forces of The League of Intrigues, together with its Weekdays counterpart Showbiz Central.he show was named now as Startalk TX. The four hosts: Francisco, De Leon, Solis and Lo are promising to bring Three Times (TX) more aggressive at getting the hottest and Totally Xplosive showbiz news, and three times more fun to the viewers. Startalk TX has always been pre-empted during Black Saturdays and Easter Sunday which observed as a non-regular programming. However, the first time the network has pre-empted the show as a regular programming was during Manny Pacquiao's World Press Tour. The longest competitor of "Startalk" in the same timeslots is "Entertainment Live", which premiered on August 4, 2007 after its pilot episode gained high ratings, due to its set of hosts, which happens to be former GMA talents Toni Gonzaga and Mariel Rodriguez with Bianca Gonzalez. On October 8, 2011, it was temporarily named as Startalk TX Now. The following year, it was reformatted as "Startalk: The Only Showbiz Authority" after Entertainment Live ended and was replaced by Showbiz Inside Report which ended a year later. In 2013, coinciding with its 18th anniversary, the show welcomed a new female main host in Heart Evangelista, who impressed viewers with her wit and candor when she appeared as guest co-host for a few weeks. Transitions and Reformats (2014-prsent) On January 17, 2014, entertainment website Philippine Entertainment Portal (PEP) reported that "Startalk" will move back to its Saturday afternoons timeslot starting January 26, 2014 after 15 long years as a Saturday showbiz-oriented talkshow as GMA Network's answer to ABS-CBN's newly reformatted The Buzz retitled as Buzz ng Bayan which just started airing last year, hosted by former "Startalk" original male host Boy Abunda. Buzz ng Bayan was again reformatted back to the original The Buzz premiering on May 18, 2014 to celebrate its 15th anniversary and Startalk returned to its original Saturday edition airing on a much later timeslot at 2:30-5:00pm. Consequently, the show's running time was also reduced from its usual two and a-half hours to just 30 minutes (including commercials). A milestone was achieved as Startalk aired its 1,000th episode on March 21, 2015-present Weekend Editions The Third Decade of The Showbiz Authority (2015-present) Right-After Butch Francisco Ricky Lo and Heart Evangelista farewell by GMA Network management took in several celebrities to was joined by Lolit Soils Joey De Leon and Joe Marasigan on board In 2015-present coinciding with its 24th anniversary, the show welcomed a new male and female main hosts of Startalk in Yam Concepcion Yassi Pressman and Carlo Marasigan who impressed viewers with her with and candor when she appeared as guest co-hosts for a few weeks. was later on taken in as guest co-hosts and went on to appear in the show as such for three months until the was named as Butch Francisco Ricky Lo and Heart Evangelista's permanent replacement for in the show which duplicated with Carlo Marasigan and Yam Concepcion where in it became his second home right-after the was suspended in Eat Bulaga! of GMA-7 and ASAP Natin To of ABS-CBN in 2015-present and became its main hosts in several occasions. On December 22 2018-present the GMA Network management the weekend decided to move Startalk to and early Saturdays afternoons timeslots right after the noontime variety shows Eat Bulaga! (Saturday editions) GMA Network The moved timeslots was due to the reason that it never gained headway against its rival noontime variety shows It's Showtime & Showbiz Inside Report of ABS-CBN With the change, the show unwittingly pioneered a "seamless" patch segment at the start of its show where the Singer Actor and TV hosts Tito Sotto & Vic Sotto Luzon Visayas Mindanao Seameless Na Always brimming with energy Tito Sotto & Vic Sotto for Eat Bulaga! (Saturday editions) was given the task of turning voiceover for a smooth transition the concluding portion of Eat Bulaga! (Saturday editions) to The Startalk hosts would pick it up from there and the mainstays of both shows exchange on-air banter for a couple of minutes, punctuated with a lot of friendly jeers, private jokes and ribbing Main Hosts * Lolit Solis (1995-present) * Joey De Leon (1995-present) * Joe Marasigan (1995-present) * Yassi Pressman (2015-present) * Yam Concepcion (2015-present) * Carlo Marasigan (2015-present) Guest Hosts *Raqi Terra (2018-present fill-in for Yam Concepcion and Yassi Pressman) *Lyka Barista (2018-present fill-in for Yam Concepcion and Yassi Pressman) *Malaya Macaraeg (2018-present fill-in for Yam Concepcion and Yassi Pressman) *Maureen Wroblewitz (2018-present fill-in for Yam Concepcion and Yassi Pressman) Segments Hosts *Raqi Terra (2018-present Da-Who Semgent Host) *Lyka Barista (2018-present Da-Who Segment Host) *Malaya Macaraeg (2018-present Da-Who Segment Host) *Maureen Wroblewitz (2018-present Rampage Segment Host) *Baby Baste (2018-present T! The Tigbak Authority Segment Host) *Ryzza Mae Dizon (2018-present T! The Tigbak Authority Segment Host) *Carlo Marasigan (2018-present T! The Tigbak Authority Segment Host) 'Segments' *Da-Who *PAK Check *RAMPAGE *T! The Tigbak Authority *Alok Bati Offer a Greetings 'Former-Hosts' *Ricky Lo (1999-2015) *Butch Francisco (1999-2015) *Paolo Bediones (1995-1999) *Boy Abunda (1995-1999) *Kris Aquino (1995-1996) *Dawn Zulueta (1996-1997) *Rosanna Roces (1997-2004) *Lorna Tolentino (2004-2008) *Alyssa Alano (2008-2015) *Heart Evangelista (2008-2015) 'Former Segment Hosts' *Pepita, Fayatollah and Steve (1998-2010) *Chariz Solomon (2007-2015) *Jan Manual (2007-2015) *Nina Kodaka (2010-2015) *Nathalie Hart (2010-2015)